Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-02-10
FOOD RESOURCES.

The ulteror effect of the reasoning
OF Matthias on the data of population is
that in spite of wars. pestilence and
famine. the increase will still continue.
even If the ratio be very small, and
that unless some artificial check is en-
pioyed. the earth will eventually be
swarming with many more inhabitants
than her products viii support.
Since Nautilus propounded his theory
of population, however, enormous adj
vances have been made in our knowl-
edge OF the natural resources which
may be used for the sustaining of
human life. A number of new sub
stances, or substances not previously
suspected OF having that quality, have
been added to the list of foods. Among
these Is the seed of the cotton plant.
! 1t will probably surprise very large
number OF persons to learn that this
product is available as nourishment for
the human species. and much more to
be Informed to how great IN extent it
IS already employed for that purpose.
Nutritious oils and especially those of
vegetable origin have been extensively
used rs food by various nations. The
cultivation of the olive appears to have
| been earliest known in Canaan. and it
was greatly praised by the Hebrew
writers after their monotonous forty
years diet of mamma in the wilderness.
From Asia Minor the olive tree was
transplanted 10 the mainland of the Pc
lasgians and the islands of the Ionians,
and Homer does honor to it in the
| Odyssey. Gradually the oil expressed
| from the fruit became the great Stapls
of food for TIE southern nations of
Europe and the peoples of Southwest
ern Asia and Northern Africa. The
Romans used il far more freely ut table
than the Greeks who adopted its cult
walton at an earlier date, and one of
their notable adages asserted that there
were two fluids which were essential to
q long and pleasant lifc-wine and oil.
Very few Anglo-Saxons realize the
extent to which olive oil enters into the
| daily diet OF the inhabitants of those
countries of which it has for SO many
centuries a principal product.
That cotton seed could come forward
as the chief competitor of the olive would
very probably have been doubted by
Nautilus, had such a prediction been
made to him. Yet such is really the
prospective Importance of this COM
modify. The manufacture of cotton
seed is rapidly increasing and has al
ready attained to very great proper
! tons.
The cotton plant is known to be in
digcnous to both Asia and America. 1t
was cultivated in India five hundred
years before Christ, in China two hum
dred years before Christ, and was found
by the Spaniards in Mexico in 1919 of
the present era, and in Peru in 1882.
In Egypt it was also raised in very
ancient times.
| The first decorticated cotton seed
that was known in Europe was export
ed from Egypt in 1852. From that
time dates the knowledge of its useful
qualities, aside from the mere propa-
CATION of the cotton plant. 1t is singu-
lar that not until much later did the
cotton planters in this country begin to
understand its real value. Its first use
in their hands was rs fertilizer for
land on which cotton was produced. 1t
was found that the seed restored to the
soil in good part the essential elements
which were taken from it by the crop.
For nearly century prior to that time
the seed had been regarded rs useless,
and. after being separated from the
fiber of the boil, had either been burned
or thrown into the sea The next adj
vance in knowledge on the part OF the
planters was the discovery that the
seed was an excellent food for cattle.
For good many years it was employed
for this purpose. but at length it was
found to be too rich to effect the great
est good in that way. 1t impaired the
health of the stock to which it was
given. A like objection was made to
it rs manure. 1t caused the cot ton
plants to grow too rank, and did not
tend to the production of as fine fiber
as other materials that could be en-
ployed for that object. The desirable
ity of adapting it tn the digestion of
cattle led to the expression of the oil.
The seed was by this operation formed
into cakes, which were used both as
forage and manure.
Only sixteen years ago this process be-
gan to be generally adopted in the
South. and as great quantities of oil
were thus produced which was natu-
rally found to be useful for many pur-
poses market for it was desirable. 1t
did not take long to discover that the
qualities of the new product were a
good deal like those of olive oil, and
that it could be substituted for the lat
ter or sold for like uses. This was the
commencement of an enormous trade. |
The business of making cotton-seed Oil
has within very brief time grown to
astonishing proportions.
The ovau,rlo Df fh;s iDIucfrx- co,.x-oc